First
and foremost is the question of what number was on the back of Hitler's
Gold Party Badge. Several have surfaced recently and have commanded extraordinary
prices at auction, as befits such a significant piece of historical memorabilia.
Unfortunately, the "Hitler" badges that have recently appeared
have all had one thing in common - the number 7 on the reverse.

The biggest
problem is Hitler never had party number 7 - he was No. 1. Where did this
myth come from that has tripped up forgers of his Gold Party Badge?

When Hitler
joined the Deutsche Arbeiter Partei, the forerunner of the NSDAP, he officially
held party membership no. 555. He was actually the 55th member of the
tiny D.A.P., but the party started it's membership at 500 to look bigger.
Hitler was popularly referred to as "Parteigenosse 7", because
he was the 7th member of the D.A.P.'s executive committee, but this was
not his membership number. Hitler's D.A.P. membership card dated Jan 1,
1920 with shows he held no. 555

Hitler liked
to claim he was the 7th member of the original D.A.P. before it was dissolved
after the Putsch and then refounded on February 27, 1925. Hitler spoke
at length about how he personally founded "The Movement" in
the old days, and that before he joined the Deutsche Arbeiter Partei in
1920 it was just a group sitting around the beer hall without a vision.
He made numerous speeches about the "Old Fighters" and how he
founded the NSDAP's predecessor, the DAP. It was part of his rewriting
of history to make him the central figure of everything. This untruth
that he had held number 7 of the old D.A.P. was stated in Mein Kampf,
and repeated frequently afterwards, including by Bulloch in the first
major biography.

Hitler took
NSDAP No. 1 in 1925 after the refounding of the NSDAP following his release
from Landsberg prison. When the NSDAP was refounded in February 1925,
Hitler announced all old party memberships were revoked - including his
own - and made everyone reapply for new numbers. That's when he took No.
1, symbolic of his being in charge, since there were still rivals for
his leadership of the new NSDAP. It also allowed Hitler to centralize
and control Party finances under Franz Xaver Schwarz, Party Treasurer,
later head of the RZM and ultimately responsible for the office of the
Gold Party Badge.

Hitler's
reissued NSDAP membership book showing his membership number as
"1". Often the German style of writing a "1"
looks like a "7" to North American eyes, adding to the
confusion.

In January
1940, Aton Drexler, the real founder of the D.A.P., drafted a letter to
Hitler to tell him to stop saying he was member no. 7 of the old D.A.P.
The letter that was drafted but never sent, said:

"No
one knows better than you yourself, my Führer, that you were never
the seventh member of the party, but at best the seventh member of the
committee, which I asked you to join as recruitment director. And a few
years ago I had to complain to a party office that your first proper membership
card of the DAP, bearing the signatures of Schüssler and myself,
was falsified, with the number 555 being erased and number 7 entered."

(see:
Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris 1889-1936, Penguin Books, p. 127).

What annoyed Drexler was Hitler downplaying his role as he was the real
founder of the D.A.P. Also Drexler had been ignored and pushed aside by
Hitler and the new NSDAP. Drexler wasn't so much complaining that Hitler
had taken No. 1 of the refounded NSDAP - just that he was repeating the
untrue story that Hitler had been member no. 7 of the old party when he
was in fact member no. 555.

Hitler's
Gold Party Badge

Several genuine
examples of Hitler's Gold Party Badge exist in private collections. Hitler
had a number in various locations and on various uniforms. One such example
came out of his apartment in Munich, along with a traditional brownshirt
and his Blood Order. Sadly I cannot show you a photo here. His Gold Party
Badge is described as simply having the number "1" on the reverse
with no other markings.

For some
reason the photographic record shows Hitler did not start wearing his
badge until late 1936.

It is reported
that his regular issue Gold Party Badge was later replaced with one made
of real gold as a presentation from members of his inner circle.

The
Fakes

Fakes of
Hitler's Gold Party Badge always come with a good story, as they would
have to in order to explain their provenance and justify the price. Two
that have recently surfaced claim to have come from two recorded incidents
in Hitler's life.

The first
concerns Otto Meissner, Head of the Presidential Chancery and State Minister.
Meissner was a career bureaucrat and a survivor. He had headed the Presidential
Chancery from 1920 under the various governments of Weimar, von Hindenberg,
and then served Hitler. Supposedly Hitler at a meeting with Meissner saw
that he was not wearing his Gold Party Badge, so Hitler pinned his own
on him. The one the auction house sold in 2001 was a small Fuess 24mm
Gold Party Badge with the number "7" on the reverse.

Meissner
had never joined the NSDAP, but received his own Gold Party Badge in 1937.
Here is an extract from the Völkischer Beobachter, South German edition,
1 February 1937:

"In
view of the anticipated re-opening of the rolls for Party membership,
the Führer as the first step in this regard, personally carried out
the enlistment into the Party of the members of the Cabinet who so far
had not belonged to it; and he handed them simultaneously the Gold Party
Badge, the supreme badge of honor of the Party. In addition, the Führer
awarded the Gold Party Badge to Colonel General Baron von Fritsch; Generaladmiral,
Dr. Raeder; the Prussian Minister of Finance, Professor Popitz; and the
Secretary of State and Chief of the Presidential Chancellery, Dr. Meissner.
The Führer also honored with the Gold Party Badge the Party members
State Secretary Dr. Lammers, State Secretary Funk, State Secretary Körner
and State Secretary General of the Air Force Milch."

Perhaps the
incident took place, however the badge that surfaced and was sold with
this story clearly was marked "7" on the reverse, but not in
a number style known to Fuess badges. There are no known photographs of
Hitler ever wearing a small Gold Party Badge, and it is unlikely he ever
did. In civilian clothes Hitler wore a small eagle in his lapel, if anything.
In the very early years he wore a simple party membership pin.

"Hitler's"
Gold Party BadgeNote the misaligned wreath

ReverseOdd screw attachment, no. "7"
and Hitler's signature

The above
30.5 mm badge was also recently auctioned for an astounding amount of
money as the badge that Hitler supposedly presented to Magda Goebbels
in the bunker on April 17, 1945. It came with affidavits from no less
than Hitler's personal valet, Heinz Linge and Heinrich Hoffmann, personal
photographer, testifying it is the one made for Hitler about 1937 and
worn until 1945. It is .750 solid gold with a screwback attachment. The
reverse is marked with the .750 gold mark, a facsimile Hitler signature
and the number "7".

There are
several issues with this badge, over and above the mistaken use of the
number 7. It is hard to understand why Hitler's signature would appear
on his own badge, especially if it is a presentation. The screwback attachment
would make it very hard to keep attached. One of the most glaring errors
is that the wreath on the front has been attached at an angle. The crossed
ribbons that should be directly beneath the "D.A.P." are almost
a quarter turn to the left. Surely something made to present to the Führer
would have better quality control.

The story
about the Magda Goebbels presentation has problems as well. While the
event certainly took place, there is no verification that she was wearing
Hitler's badge when she died. Frau Goebbels also had her own Gold Party
Badge, awarded some years earlier. There is no explanation of how the
badge sold above as belonging to her through presentation by Hitler left
the bunker after the Russians seized control. Magda's body was cremated
and there is no sign of damage to the pin, especially as it is soft gold.
If it was left in the bunker, how did it get back into the market?

This badge
shown above sold for almost $100,000 US at auction.

One of Hitler's
real Gold Party Badges was evidently taken from the Berlin bunker by the
Soviet GRU, and was later placed in the archives of the NKVD (then KGB,
then FSB). It is unknown if it came from Hitler's personal quarters or
if it was the one given to Magda Goebbels and found among the things in
her room in the Bunker. This badge was kept in the secret police archives
and placed on display in 2005, only to be stolen, as the article below
describes. Hitler's badge in the Russian secret police archives is clearly
identified as bearing number 1, and from the admittedly poor photo below,
appears to be an ordinary Gold Party Badge.

The
Times
November 19, 2005

Trophy-hunter
steals Hitler badgeBy
Jeremy Page and Luba Vinogradova

Russian
security service is embarrassed as exhibition loses the Nazi leader's
No 1 party membership badge

IT
WAS, until recently, one of the most sinister and valuable trophies
in the archives of the Russian agency that succeeded the KGB.

For
five decades Adolf Hitler's gold Nazi party membership badge lay
in a special room in the depths of the Lubyanka, the headquarters
of the Federal Security Service (FSB), along with other trophies
from the Third Reich.

Only
this year did the FSB put it on display for the first time at a
special exhibition to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the
Second World War. But, to its enormous embarrassment, the badge
was stolen from the exhibition, The Times has learnt.

Investigators
say that they have little hope of retrieving the trophy, whose theft,
they believe, was commissioned by a wealthy collector, possibly
a neo-Nazi. They say that the burglar was clearly a professional,
who cased the exhibition and used climbing equipment to lower himself
from the roof and in through a window after removing the glass.
"It could have been smuggled abroad or could still be in the
country," an investigator, who declined to be identified, said.

The
FSB insists that the badge was a copy and of no value. But many
Russian experts believe that it was the original and could be worth
up to €3 million (£2.1 million). "Only after it
was stolen did people start saying it wasn't the original,"
said a source at the State Archive of the Russian Federation, where
the exhibition was held.

One
theory is that the theft, on June 30, may have been ordered by one
of Russia's neo-Nazi groups, which have become increasingly active
in the past five years, with a string of deadly attacks on foreigners
and non-Slavic Russians.

The
FSB, which inherited the KGB archives after the collapse of the
Soviet Union, revealed that it possessed the badge in a catalogue
published in 1996.

The
catalogue listed several items taken from the bunker where Soviet
troops found the bodies of Hitler, Eva Braun and Joseph and Magda
Goebbels - all of whom committed suicide - in 1945. They included
documents, personal belongings, uniforms and the jawbones of Hitler
and Eva Braun. But the prize trophies were Hitler's and Goebbels'
party membership badges - among 10,000 issued to its first members
in 1934. Hitler's was marked "No 1" on the reverse side.

Many
historians believe that Hitler gave the badge to Magda Goebbels
as a token of thanks just before killing himself on April 30, 1945.
Goebbels and his wife had refused to leave Berlin and moved into
Hitler's bunker on April 22, 1945. They committed suicide on May
1 after killing their six children.

Soviet
military intelligence officers sent the items to Moscow in 1948.
In 1954 Ivan Serov, the KGB chief, handed them to the KGB archive,
where they were stored in a special room for the next 51 years.

The
public caught its first glimpse of the badge in 2003 in a photograph
at an exhibition to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of
Soviet military intelligence. But it was not put on display until
this year.

A notice
announcing the exhibition read: "Among the exhibits will be
such rare items as the scorched map from Hitler's bunker and his
personal NSDAP membership badge." Closed-circuit television
footage showed that the burglar was a man of slight build acting
alone. He triggered sensors as he scaled the 3m (10ft) wall around
the museum, but guards thought that it was a cat. He also set off
an alarm when sensors detected him entering the exhibition hall.
But he quickly smashed the window of the display cabinet with a
hammer and snatched the badge, along with eight other items, before
climbing out of the window using a rope.

"If
only our policemen on guard hadn't been tying up the laces on their
boots," the investigator said, "he would have been caught
on the spot."

A
second "Hitler" Gold Party Badge surfaced a few years ago. It
also was marked .750 gold and is clearly cast from the same mold (see
the "Z" and top of the "T"). This one has the wreath
put on straight.

The back
has an atypical jewelery type clasp and is again numbered "7"
on the reverse, as well as displaying a facsimile Hitler signature. The
leaves have a cast look to them.